Travellers set up camp outside hotel
Tuesday 26th January 2010, 11:30AM GMT.
Travellers have set up camp at a hotel near Wolverhampton which has fallen into disrepair since going up for sale more than two years ago.
Around five caravans have moved on to the car park of the former Lea Manor Hotel on the A464 Telford to Wolverhampton Road at Albrighton.
Council chiefs today pledged to evict the group from the hotel site, which was a top nightspot during the 1960s and 70s but closed in 2008.
Alan Jacques, agency surveyor with Midland firm Towler Shaw Roberts, said today: “I’ve had three or four phone calls from locals about it.
“I think arrangements have been made to move them on from the site.”
The 16-bedroom Lea Manor Hotel was built by late Wolverhampton businessman Robert Eaton, who owned it for almost 20 years before selling up in 1986. At one point in 2007 the site had a £1 million price tag.
Shropshire Council leader Malcolm Pate, who is also ward councillor for Albrighton, has vowed to do everything in his power to ensure the travellers are moved on. He said: “They have to move on and we will be taking action to make sure they do so.”
Towler Shaw Roberts today revealed a planning application had been submitted to transform it for business use.
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i used to go there
wot happened to it?
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leave them alone !!
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Oh please !!! save the P-C for elsewhere…Next you’ll be saying its not their fault that they are camped there ?!…They chose that lifestyle and they’ll also choose to dump a load of rubbish, waste, the odd chair and kitchen sink when their moved on (As per normal) !!!
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Must say I have seen scruffier looking council house estates than where these people are living at the moment. These people are sometimes cleaner than those who do live in houses and flats!!!! There caravans and vans are virtually new….Better than old bangers parked on your drive up the wrenner or priory!!
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I have to agree with Seanalbion20. If they’re not doing any harm, why move them on? They’ll only camp on another piece of land somewhere else and be moved on again. Shropshire Council has a legal obligation to accomodate travellers. Since the traveller site was closed a Stanmore on the the edge of Bridgnorth, there’s been no where for travellers to camp in the Bridgnorth District. Just because they have a different way of life to you and me and have a different cultural tradition, doesn’t mean they should be persocuted by NIMBYs – Not In My Back Yard. Oh, by the way, Guess which political party Malcolm Pate belongs to…
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Let’s have some facts on the table here. Every square inch of land in this Country (except common land) has to be owned by someone. It therefore follows that travellers, 99.9% of the time, are trespassing on someone’s land. This leads to the folowing consequences.
If the land is being sold, the seller has no chance of finding a buyer with trespassers on the property
Then there is the cost of clearing up the inevitable mess. In Walsall land ajacent to the Inland Revenue was occupied by travellers who used bolt cutters to remove padlocks. Over a £1000 was expended in court costs to have them removed with a further £5000 to clear up the mess.
I would say to contributors 1 and 3, why don’t you invite them to park on your property?
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I’d gladly let them camp on my land if I had any. Given the correct facilities, Travellers won’t leave a mess and won’t tresspass. They’re only tresspassing because the various district and county councils in England don’t carry out their legal obligation to provide campsites specifically for travellers with running water and sanitation. People who don’t like travellers complain of the cost to the tax payer of moving htem on and cleaning up after them. If proper facilities were provided as they should be under UK and EU laws, it would be at a much cheaper alternative to the tax payer.
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Dont leave a mess that a laugh ive seen what they leave behind !
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Can i just say we have a say leave them alone etc.
But if you have recived first hand experience and seen the state they left my property in then i think your views would be very different.
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there were nice looking travellers on the site of wessons in moxley, three days later they had gutted the place of anything that they could weigh in including all the copper wire. move them on!
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well i agree with most people but they should all have there homes pounded for the clean up if they dont pay up or leave the land in the way they arrived
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They might not steal the old ones
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Travellers are human too, they also need somewhere to stay, as a matter of fact I would like to see all those calling for the eviction of the travellers evicted themselves.
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ROB Im not being p.c ,i have met many travellers first hand and i find them respectfull and polite ,lets just hope that if you are homeless and wanting to rest somewhere for a while that you are not met with the same pathetic backward`s thinking dribble that you are spouting,and plumbers keep kitchen sink`s and weigh them in but would you treat him with the same vile tongue NO didn`t think so , wind your neck in and don`t comment on thing`s you haven`t a clue about !!!
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Firstly SEANALBION20: My comment/opinion contained nothing regards how respectful and polite, these fellow humans are !
I’m sure most are.
Secondly: May I put this question to you:
Once most travellers have moved on, do or don’t they leave most places looking & smelling like a tip ?
Thirdly: A good majority i’m sure, choose to be mobile/homeless and I cant remember ever seeing a skint traveller; Most have a fleet of Toyota Land Cruisers, transit vans & JCB’s in toe, so how come they couldn’t hire a £60! mini-skip for when they depart the land they drop in on? Does this come down to the fact, that they don’t respect there environment, law and other peoples property?
Oh and regards your advice; “wind your neck in and don`t comment on thing`s you haven`t a clue about !!!”…Err Nah !!!
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You can still wind your neck in though mate ,i allways like to give the other side of the story and see the reaction and as expected it was the right one ,thankyou you have been played !!
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A large number of these “travellers” don’t pay rates, don’t pay tax and don’t pay any fines imposed on them.
It is also not uncommon for them to use alias’s to claim benefits at multiple locations.
More often than not, when they finally leave, the local authority and it’s rate payers are left with the clean up bill.
Go to your local police station and ask if crime figures for theft related offences had risen while they were in the area.
Live and let live, but not in my back yard.
Yes i’m bitter. I was burgled by “travellers”. The offender was caught but jumped bail and disappeared by using an alias.
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Westport Wolf. So campsites are cheaper for the taxpayer eh? Well that’s very admirable of these travellers to consider taxpayers when taking advantage of freebees. For those who work and pay those taxes – does the council give them a free home with running water and sanitation?
Terry. So having paid £200.000 out of my own money (earned by going to night school and passing god knows how many exams and working all hours – my life choice)I should now be evicted from my own property? Interesting observation!
Seanalbion. Why are they homeless? Their life choice not to settle, get a job and put down roots. Fine by me but don’t expect me to finance it.
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